No one can say Tony Dokoupil is slipping into his new job as \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d anchor unnoticed.<\/p>\n
In a week, he\u2019s issued a veritable manifesto for how he intends to fulfill the role, cast subtle shade on saintly predecessor Walter Cronkite, had an unexpected debut dominated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and posted a cringeworthy video of people mispronouncing his name.<\/p>\n
If attention is currency in trying to revive a television institution fallen on hard times, Dokoupil has earned some. The jury is out on whether it is the kind he needs.<\/p>\n
The 45-year-old Dokoupil, a \u201cCBS Mornings\u201d host since 2019, inherited the chair once occupied by Cronkite, Dan Rather, Katie Couric, Scott Pelley and Norah O\u2019Donnell. He was supposed to have started Monday with a two-week tour around the country, but his first broadcast instead came Saturday after the U.S. military action in Venezuela<\/a>.<\/p>\n An estimated 27 to 29 million people watched the \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d each night in Cronkite\u2019s last full year as anchor in 1980, the most popular of the three broadcast evening newscasts. The show is now entrenched at No. 3, And with news habits far different now, its nightly audience<\/a> of 4.04 million people last year was a little more than half of what David Muir gets at ABC.<\/p>\n \u2018The press missed the story\u2019<\/p>\n In video and printed messages posted last week, Dokoupil said he hoped to earn back the trust that many people have lost in legacy media institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cOn too many stories, the press missed the story,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause we\u2019ve taken into account the perspective of advocates, and not the average American, or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you.\u201d<\/p>\n He said his promise to viewers is that \u201cyou come first. Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And, yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t clear exactly where he felt the analysis by \u201celites\u201d led the country astray. Dokoupil broadcast from Miami on Tuesday, beginning his nationwide tour a day late, and wasn\u2019t available for comment, CBS said.<\/p>\n He also posted five \u201csimple values\u201d that the broadcast will follow. Four are fairly innocuous \u2014 \u201cwe work for you,\u201d \u201cwe report on the world as it is,\u201d \u201cwe respect you\u201d and \u201cwe respect tradition, but we also believe in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n The fifth might also seem simple: \u201cWe love America.\u201d But it attracted plenty of online commentary, much from people suspicious that it reflected concern that Dokoupil\u2019s boss, Free Press founder and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss<\/a>, was intent upon moving the news division\u2019s focus more to the political right. The Daily Beast referred to Dokoupil as CBS\u2019 \u201cMAGA-coded anchor.\u201d<\/p>\n No apologies are necessary for loving America, wrote press critic Margaret Sullivan in her Substack column American Crisis \u2014 depending on how that\u2019s defined.<\/p>\n \u201cThen again, I think we may have a different definition of how journalists can show their patriotism,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cNo American flag pins on lapels are necessary. No jingoistic headlines about illegal raids are welcome. And, please, no fawning interviews of people in powerful positions.\u201d<\/p>\n Should news really be a daily conversation?<\/p>\n Half of Dokoupil\u2019s premiere broadcast over the weekend was devoted to his interview with Hegseth, who stayed through two commercial breaks. That kind of time spent speaking with one individual is itself unusual for a format designed to give a rundown on big stories, particularly on a busy day, and the anchor drew mixed reviews from critics who thought he could have pressed the defense secretary harder.<\/p>\n A Columbia University journalism professor, Bill Grueskin, doesn\u2019t like Dokoupil\u2019s statement that one way to think about his show is as a daily conversation about \u201cwhere we are as a country and where we are going.\u201d<\/p>\n Grueskin wrote on X: \u201cNews is not a \u2018daily conversation.\u2019 News is news. If you want a daily conversation, go to your local coffee shop.\u201d<\/p>\n Dokoupil\u2019s statements seem to echo a message Weiss sent when she was appointed to her job last fall: \u201cOn the one hand, an America-loathing far left. On the other, a history-erasing far right. These extremes do not represent the majority of the country, but they have increasing power in our politics, our culture and our media ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the conservative Media Research Center, told The Associated Press he sees hopeful signs that Dokoupil will hold politicians from both parties accountable. His group has long contended CBS News is biased toward the left.<\/p>\n Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump\u2019s first White House press secretary, is more skeptical. He sees Dokoupil\u2019s rollout as part of a marketing campaign meant to make people forget the newsman spent the last several years sitting next to Gayle King on the morning show set.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an attempt to gaslight people into thinking that he wasn\u2019t already a part of this institution,\u201d said Spicer, who is debuting his own political news show, \u201cThe Huddle,\u201d on streaming services this week.<\/p>\n Dokoupil\u2019s comment about Cronkite came when answering a viewer who wrote on Instagram that \u201cI grew up on Cronkite. Too bad CBS has lost its Tiffany shine. But good luck to you anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n The new anchor answered: \u201cI can promise you that we\u2019ll be more accountable and more transparent than Cronkite or anyone else of that era.\u201d<\/p>\n The remark angered fans of the newsman once cited in opinion polls as \u201cthe most trusted man in America.\u201d \u201cI knew Walter Cronkite. I was his producer,\u201d said Tom Bettag, a University of Maryland journalism professor and longtime news executive who worked with Cronkite during his final two years as anchor. \u201cWalter Cronkite would have never said something so self-serving.\u201d<\/p>\n The second signal of Dokoupil\u2019s reference to Cronkite<\/p>\n Planned or not, Dokoupil had sent another signal. Cronkite was no hero to many conservatives with long memories who saw him as the preeminent symbol of a news establishment that leaned left.<\/p>\n One other promotional video, where CBS sent Dokoupil into New York\u2019s Grand Central Terminal holding up a sign with his name and asking people to pronounce it (it\u2019s do\u2019 COOP\u2019 pil), only provided evidence that strikingly few people knew CBS News\u2019 chief anchor. You can bet they would have recognized Cronkite on the highly unlikely chance he would have tried such a stunt.<\/p>\n From his long perspective in TV news, Bettag urged patience.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely think it\u2019s way too early to make a judgement on how he\u2019s going to be and I wish him all the luck in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cCBS needs him to succeed. It was a lousy start and some missed opportunities, but that should not be the final judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http:\/\/x.com\/dbauder<\/a> and https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dbauder.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n